Infinite Tenderness
by supplylight
Summary: This Cophine story picks up where the season two finale left off. Delphine finds herself in Frankfurt, but needs to find a way back to Cosima. Cosima is happy with her sisters, but is still sick and missing Delphine.
1. Chapter 1

Cosima opens her eyes slowly, still drowsy from a rocky night of sleep. Her coughing had kept her up most of the night, but she was trying to stay quiet for her sisters. They were all still sleeping in Felix's apartment. Sleepovers with her sisters felt oddly nostalgic, as though they had done this all their lives. Although Cosima was on the verge of death, she never felt safer.

She sat up weakly and let out a sigh. She had another Delphine dream. This was the second night in a row. She was grateful that Delphine had helped her save Sarah, but she still gave no information about where she was. Her dreams were oddly comforting, but she was still worried about Delphine's safety. Considering Rachel's evil plans for Sarah, Cosima wouldn't be surprised if she had set up an evil plan for Delphine as well. However, there was a part of her that was still afraid of denial. Maybe all the drama had gotten to Delphine and she fled…

Cosima closed her eyes and tried to push the negative thoughts out of her mind. In her head, she replayed the moment when Delphine told her that she loved her for the first time. In that moment, everything seemed to make perfect sense… Why Delphine had given her blood samples and why she used Kira's stem cells… She was driven by love. But what if she was driven _away_ by love, too?

The door to the apartment suddenly opened. "Ay get up, sis," Sarah said with her thick British accent. "I got us some coffee."

Cosima sat up and looked around. She hadn't noticed that she was alone in the apartment. "Where is everyone else?"

"Well, Helena is still gone off somewhere. I'm sure she will turn up again eventually. And then Alison and Felix went grocery shopping…" she said, widening her eyes.

Cosima giggled. "Alison and Felix…. Grocery shopping?" she asked, skeptically.

"Yeah, I don't know how she got Felix to agree to go. I think Felix can sense that she is nervous going out alone and decided to help out. Plus, they brought Kira as a buffer."

"Aha," Cosima nodded as she started to get out of bed.

"No, no, stay there!" Sarah said, quickly moving across the apartment. "I'll bring the coffee to you."

Cosima rolled her eyes but sat back against her pillow. "I'm still alive, you know. Are you going to spoil me from now on?"

"No," Sarah said toughly. "I'm just trying to take care of you. It's what sisters do, right?"

Cosima smirked and nodded. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"Ah, don't thank me yet…" Sarah said, trailing off.

"Oh no. What happened…?"

"I kind of overheard you talking in your sleep last night… about Delphine. You're worried about her, yeah?"

Cosima took a deep breath. "Yeah. It's fine if she left or whatever. I just wish I knew where she was, you know?"

"Hey," Sarah said, softly putting her hand on Cosima's arm. "She didn't leave you. Rachel forced her to go. You know that."

Cosima nodded and took a sip of her coffee. She wondered how many more times she would have to tell herself that until she truly believed it.


	2. Chapter 2

Delphine sat on her hotel bed and opened her laptop. Her heart warmed when she saw her desktop background picture: a picture of her and Cosima eating Eskimo Pies. Just seeing Cosima's smile made her feel loved and safe. She had never met anyone like her before. Cosima was so warm and open and forgiving. Delphine knew how lucky she was to meet her.

She looked out the window with a soft smile on her face. The smile quickly faded as she remembered where she was: Frankfurt. Half a world away from Cosima. Her chest tightened as she began to feel the distance between them.

She immediately opened up her email and addressed it to Cosima. She hadn't contacted her since Rachel sent her away. She was living in fear of what Rachel would do. Delphine knew that Kira's stem cells, the one thing that could save Cosima, were in Rachel's hands and the last thing Delphine wanted to do was make her angry enough to withhold them.

Delphine threw her laptop shut in frustration. _This isn't fair_, she thought. The idea of Cosima being sick was already hard enough to swallow. But the fact that she was now across the world from her was way harder. Delphine felt so unbearably helpless.

She threw her head into her pillow and began to cry. Her heart had been carrying a heaviness ever since she left Canada and it became heavier every day. Not only could she not live without trying to save Cosima, she couldn't live without her, period. She suddenly realized that she would never forgive herself if something happened to the woman she was in love with unless she knew she did _everything_ in her power to save her.

_That's it_, Delphine thought. _I'm going back to Canada._ She opened her laptop back up and found the draft addressed to Cosima.

"Mon Cheri –

Will be on a plane tonight to come get you. I am quitting DYAD. Cold turkey."

Delphine felt her heart race as she pressed the send button. She knew, without a doubt, that she was making the right decision. Besides Cosima, there was no one else in the world that knew Cosima's body and genetics the way she did. _She_ had to be the one to save her.

Suddenly, a message popped up on the screen: "Email failed to send – user blocked."

Delphine scrunched her eyebrows and looked over the email address for any mistakes. It was right. She pressed send again. A new message popped up: "Account has been locked."

"Merde," she whispered. Someone at DYAD was following her email activity.

_Well, looks like I'm going to have to be a surprise_, she thought with a worried look in her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Cosima placed her laptop on her lap and let out a sigh. Deep in thought, she slowly opened the computer. She opened her email but just stared at the screen, unable to type.

"Hey, is Cosima okay?" Felix whispered to Sarah. He had finally gotten back from his shopping trip with Alison. Alison was sitting on the couch next to him, listening to her Broadway tunes. Cosima acted cheerful as usual but had barely said anything to them when they got back.

"Oh yeah, sure," Sarah said, looking over at Cosima. She tried to play it cool, but she couldn't keep her face from showing her worry. She looked back at Felix and knew he could read exactly what she was thinking. She decided to be honest. "I don't know, Fe. I mean, she obviously knows Kira's stem cells are gone. But she would never openly admit to being scared. At least not to us…"

"So no word from Delphine?" he asked.

"No," Sarah said, leaning back and rubbing her forehead. "And soon I'm going to go out and find her myself. I don't know what else to do."

Felix patted his sister's leg and got off the couch. He walked over to the bed, sat down next to Cosima, and threw his arm around her.

"To email her or not email her… That's the question right?"

Cosima smiled lightly. "Is it that obvious?"

"Eh, just a little. Although you're starting to grow some of those sad puppy dog eyes that Delphine has mastered," he said, nudging her playfully.

Although she managed to smirk at Felix's joke, the thought of Delphine's eyes made her heart hurt. For someone who had a confident hold on most aspects of her life, she felt lost without Delphine.

"I'm sure she's fine, Cos," Felix said, rubbing her back.

Cosima blinked back tears and nodded. In typical Cosima fashion, she quickly changed the subject. "So what did you guys get me from the store, hmm?"

"Actually… Alison apparently couldn't live without going into the craft store down the street so we got you something there."

"Oh Felix, you are always so dramatic," Alison said, lowering the music. She turned to Cosima. "I just thought some knitting would get my mind off of all the clone drama happening right now. Maybe I would stop feeling more tense by the second."

"Yeah, like that's possible," Felix scoffed.

Cosima smiled and brought warmth back to the conversation. "That's not a bad idea, Alison. So, what's my distraction?"

"Kira, bring Auntie Cosima's present over here!" Felix called to Kira.

Kira ran over and threw herself onto the bed. "I picked it out for you, Auntie Cosima." She pulled a sea shell out of her pocket and placed it in her aunt's hand. "It's just like your tattoo! And Auntie Alison even said that she would put all of our initials on it so then it will be like we are always with you!"

For the first time since Delphine left, Cosima felt her heart warm again. She looked over at Sarah who nodded with a smile. They all knew how special her daughter was.

Cosima looked down at Kira. "Kira, this is an amazing present. Thank you."

She held the shell against her chest and leaned back against Felix. Yet again, she found herself remembering how lucky she was to have her sisters. She felt happy, despite her illness. Now she just needed one more thing…

_Delphine_.


	4. Chapter 4

Delphine held her breath as the plane touched the ground. It might seem silly, but she had been worried she wouldn't even make it this far. Part of her wouldn't even be surprised if DYAD had pull with the government and somehow put her on a "no-fly" list.

Once the plane hit the ground, she felt a weight lift off her chest. She was back. She would find Cosima and they would get Kira's stem cells back somehow and everything would be fine. _Cosima will be okay_, she reminded herself repeatedly in her head, _She has to be okay_.

Delphine anxiously got off the plane and hurried to a taxi. She gave the driver Felix's address with the hope that Cosima would be there. As the driver pulled away from the terminal, Delphine froze. _What if Sarah is still at DYAD? What if they weren't able to save her?_ Delphine cursed herself for thinking that just sending Cosima that schedule would be enough help. How did she forget about Sarah? Didn't Cosima tell her she had to love all her sisters? Delphine really did care for them, but she couldn't help putting Cosima at the forefront of her mind. That was fair, right? I mean, she wasn't _dating_ all the other clones.

She resisted the urge to bite her nails as they got closer to the apartment. She was finally remembering that this was _bigger_ than just Cosima's illness. She might be the most urgent matter to deal with, but _all_ those girls were involved. However, she even surprised herself at her dedication to them. She knew she would do anything to help them, without hesitation

As the driver dropped her off and she gave him money, she felt her heart beginning to beat faster. She forgot about the possibility of Cosima not even being here. Just the prospect that she _was_ here calmed her nerves. She couldn't wait to hold her in her arms again. She missed her smell and the way her hair felt as it ran through her fingers. Delphine needed to be close to her again.

She walked up the stairs and arrived at Felix's door. She took a deep breath, preparing to see Cosima's face again. She knocked softly. She could almost _feel_ the hesitation from the other side of the door. She knew they were probably always nervous about who could appear at their doorstep.

"It's okay. It's Delphine," she called through the door.

She suddenly heard lots of commotion coming from the apartment.

"Really?" she heard Cosima ask, calmly but skeptically. "Oh my god." Just her voice alone calmed all of Delphine's nerves.

"Hey!" Sarah's voice suddenly boomed across the room. "You, stay in bed. Just wait a second."

Delphine heard footsteps approach the door and waited as the door opened slowly to reveal a familiar face.

"Hi Sarah," Delphine said softly. "I'm so glad to see you're okay."

"Yeah," Sarah replied, not missing a beat. "So where have you been? We haven't heard a word from you."

"Is Cosima there? I really need to see her." Delphine asked softly but affirmatively.

Felix suddenly appeared behind his sister. "Yeah, where have you been, Delphine?"

Delphine started to speak, surprised by their frigidity.

"C'mon guys, it's okay." Cosima said, appearing behind them. "Thank you, but it's okay."

Sarah and Felix looked at each other before deciding to let it go.

"Fine," Sarah sighed. She looked at Delphine, "But I want to know the whole story later."

Delphine nodded before slowly shifting her focus to Cosima.

"Hi, Cosima," Delphine whispered with a shiver of excitement running down her back. "I told you I would never leave you."


	5. Chapter 5

Cosima stood in shock at the sight before her. Delphine stood in the doorway, looking perfect as usual, even though she had clearly flown hours to get back to Canada.

_Delphine came back_, Cosima said to herself, trying to register the situation. She had been so busy thinking about all the reasons why Delphine _wouldn't_ come back, that she forget to think about the possibility that she would.

So many thoughts were running through her head. For the most part, she couldn't contain her body's physical reaction to the woman that she loves. All she wanted to do was fall into her arms where she knew she was safe. On the other hand, she was filled with questions about where she had been the past week and why she wasn't around to help.

Cosima was finally distracted from her eye contact with Delphine by the glares she could feel coming from the other side of the apartment. She looked over to see Sarah and Felix glaring at Delphine, arms crossed. Cosima fought the urge to laugh at how protective they were, despite the fact that they all knew they would never act against Delphine. Cosima reminded herself to thank them for that later.

"Do you want to talk in the hall for a second?" Cosima suggested, assuming Delphine probably felt uncomfortable with the British gang staring at her in the corner.

"Um, sure," Delphine responded softly. She turned back into the hallway and Cosima couldn't help but look her up and down, remember how perfect her body was.

Once they were in the hallway, Delphine immediately turned around. She looked like she was about to speak but bit her lip first. Delphine didn't know it, but that lip bite drove Cosima crazy. It was a nervous tick but it simultaneously served as the perfect turn on for her.

"Cosima…" Delphine whispered, shaking her head while tears grew in her eyes.

Cosima immediately placed her hands on Delphine's face and drew her into a kiss. It was passionate but soft and full of longing. They leaned apart and looked into each other's eyes.

"I love you and I missed you," Cosima said confidently, reassuring her that everything was okay.

Delphine breathed a sigh of relief through her tears. She shook her head and kissed the inside of Cosima's palm. "Je t'aime," she whispered, tears falling down her face. "Je t'aime."

Cosima pulled her into a hug and they stayed like that for a few minutes. Holding each other close, Cosima could feel both of their heartbeats finally starting to slow. This is where they were meant to be.

"Promise me we will never be apart again," Delphine whispered.

And in that moment, Cosima was convinced that nothing in this world could keep her away from the person she loved. And she wanted nothing more than to never be separated from Delphine again.

"I'll never leave you," Cosima said reassuringly, softly kissing Delphine's neck.


	6. Chapter 6

Delphine followed Cosima back into the apartment, holding on to her hand. Felix and Sarah immediately looked up as soon as they entered.

"You ready to explain yourself?" Sarah asked accusingly to Delphine.

Delphine immediately felt nervous. She was glad Sarah was so protective of Cosima, but all she wanted was to be on good terms with her.

Delphine took a breath. "I…" she began.

"Actually…" Cosima interrupted. She threw a quick smile Delphine's way. She must have noticed her nervousness and was trying to give her a break. Delphine squeezed her hand thankfully.

"Actually, I wanted to have that conversation with her myself first," Cosima finished.

Delphine's smiled faded a bit. She just wanted to lie in her girlfriend's arms and pretend for a couple moments that everything was back to normal. She needed to feel Cosima's body against hers. _You owe her an explanation_, Delphine reminded herself reluctantly, _she deserves that_.

"So…." Cosima continued, "I hate to ask this, but is it okay if Delphine and I have the apartment to ourselves for a bit?"

Sarah looked to Felix. "Whatever you want, I guess," he replies, grabbing his jacket sassily. "But after you guys have sex, I expect an explanation."

He grabbed Sarah's arm and forced her out of the apartment. Delphine saw Sarah catch Cosima's eye with a look that seemed to ask "are you okay?" in a way that only sisters would understand. Cosima nodded with a smile and waved her hand. "Go join Kira and Alison at the diner down the street. Everything's fine!" Cosima reassured them.

Sarah said okay and unenthusiastically closed the door behind her.

Delphine looked at Cosima with a half-hearted smile. "I guess they still don't like me, huh?" she asked. Cosima looked down. Quickly, Delphine began the explanation she knew Cosima was waiting for. "Cosima, I can explain everything…"

Suddenly, without warning, Cosima grabs her face and pulls her into a kiss. She hungrily presses her body up against Delphine's. Delphine pulls away with a smile and looks into her girlfriend's eyes before forcing their hips back together. Cosima slowly guides Delphine toward the couch and pushes her onto it. Delphine watches as Cosima lifts one of her legs and straddles her lap seductively. Unknowingly, she bites her lip which immediately makes Cosima groan and kiss her lips hungrily. It felt so good to be wanted by her again. Delphine was not expecting _this_ when she walked up the steps to Felix's apartment earlier.

There is no better feeling in the world that feeling Cosima's hands on her body. She shivered as Cosima's hands slowly ran down her torso and rested on her hips. Cosima found her way to the button on Delphine's jeans and Delphine felt her heart began to race. Cosima slowly undid the button and felt her way to the zipper but instead Delphine had a better idea.

She grabbed Cosima's hips and moved her onto the couch next to her. Delphine kissed her chest as Cosima leaned back onto the couch. Delphine made her way up Cosima's neck and then nibbled on her ear. She felt Cosima breath in as her hand moved up her leg and grabbed her inner thigh.

"God, I missed feeling you," Delphine breathed into Cosima's neck.

Cosima smirked. "Yeah? You better have."

Delphine raised her eyebrows. "Always so cheeky…" she said, smiling.

She kissed Cosima's lips and then moved back down to her chest. "This is to make up for leaving you," Delphine whispered, moving down between Cosima's legs, "I hope you can forgive me…" Delphine smiled to herself as she felt Cosima react with a curse word and an arched back.

It felt so _right_ to be finally back here, making her lover happy.


	7. Chapter 7

"Well, that was fun," Cosima whispered with a giggle. She wrapped her arm around Delphine's topless waist and squeezed her hip. "How come you didn't let me do you, though?"

Delphine made a quick glance over to Cosima's oxygen tank. "I, uh…. I just wanted to treat you," Delphine whispered back with a faint smile.

Cosima could sense the sadness in Delphine's eyes. She knew Delphine was worried about her health, but Cosima just wanted to spend some time in the moment. She didn't want to worry abou the future or her illness or the other clones. She just wanted to be present in the moment. She just wanted to enjoy the feeling of being in her girlfriend's arms after some time apart.

Cosima softly ran her fingers up and down Delphine's torso. "God, you're beautiful," Cosima whispered, looking into Delphine's eyes. She leaned in and lightly kissed Delphine nose before snuggling into her curls. She missed the smell of her shampoo and the feeling of her soft hair. "Let's lay here forever, okay?" she suggested, softly.

Delphine sighed heavily, another worried sign that Cosima ignored.

"Cosima…" Delphine began.

"No, I know what you are about to say. And I don't want to talk about it. I just want to lay here with you, is that too much to ask?"

"Right now, it might be too much to ask," Delphine replied. "We don't have a lot of time!"

Cosima huffed, "Well we have ten god damn minutes to spare! Why can't we just lay here?" She quickly sat up to clear her throat. Her coughing developed into a full on attack, forcing Delphine to help her sit back down.

"This is exactly why we need to talk about it, Cosima," Delphine said, rubbing her back.

Cosima flicked her head to the side in defiance. She got up and threw her dress back on.

"Cosima, sit down," Delphine pleaded. "We need to talk about those stem cells. How are we going to get a hold of them?"

Cosima froze as she remembered that Delphine didn't know about Rachel's freak out. _She has no idea the stem cells are gone_. She sat back down slowly.

"Delphine…"

Just at that moment, Sarah knocked on the door and flung it open. "Hey, we are back! Everyone decent?" She looked at Delphine who was still shirtless. She quickly grabbed her shirt and threw it on.

"Why am I not surprised…" Felix muttered, sending a cheeky smile Cosima's way.

Cosima walked toward the kitchen and motioned for Delphine to follow.

"So did you find out any new information?" Sarah asked, clearly ignoring Delphine.

"No… We were just starting to talk about it." Cosima turned toward Delphine. "Do you want to tell us what happened?"

Delphine agreed and told the trio how Rachel sent her away and about her blocked email.

"That bitch," Sarah said angrily, shoving a book off the table. "When is she going to stop? Hasn't she had enough bullshit in her life? God, to think about everything Kira has gone through and now it's all for nothing."

Cosima bit her lip as Delphine's eyes grew wide. _Shit_, she thought, _fuck I should have told her_.

"Oh no…" Sarah began, "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Delphine asked with a panicked face, immediately turning to Cosima. "Cosima, what happened?"

Cosima took a breath and took her girlfriend's hand. "Rachel freaked out when Duncan killed himself and… she smashed Kira's stem cells…"

Cosima watched as her girlfriend's eyes closed, preparing for the worst.


	8. Chapter 8

Delphine felt as if the whole world had fallen around her. She felt her heart speed up and her palms start sweating.

"I need to sit down," she mumbled, feeling her way to a chair.

Cosima quickly knelt next to her. "Delphine, it's okay. We will figure out another way."

"There is no other way, Cosima. You know that!" Delphine yelled, inhaling sharply. She couldn't believe Rachel would _actually_ do that. She avoided looking at her girlfriend because she knew how easily she could break down. _I can't lose her, I can't_, Delphine kept thinking. She reminded herself not to be selfish. Cosima was sick and scared, even if she refused to show it to her sisters. Delphine knew her better than that. But the idea of Cosima being afraid made her heart hurt. Delphine felt her hands start shaking. She was scared too. She was so confident in those stem cells and their ability to heal Cosima… and now they were just gone.

"Delphine, hey," Cosima said softly, grabbing her hand.

Delphine shook her head and looked away, trying her hardest to keep it together.

"Look at me," Cosima whispered.

Delphine took a deep breath and slowly turned her head. The second her eyes met her girlfriend's, she couldn't hold it in any longer. She began to heavily sob and threw her head into her hands. "There has to be another way," she breathed between sobs. "There just has to be."

Suddenly, Delphine realized that something didn't add up. Rachel was evil but she was also selfish. Rachel knew that those stem cells might save herself one day if she ever got sick. She couldn't have destroyed them _all._

Delphine immediately looked up at Sarah. "Sarah, could you get Cal on the phone?" she asked, grabbing Sarah's attention from across the apartment.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Sarah said, walking back towards the couple. "What do you need?"

"I need him to hack into Rachel's email and find out if Kira's stem cells were stored anywhere else."

Sarah nodded and grabbed her phone, stepping out of the apartment.

"There might be some hope, Cosima," Delphine said excitedly.

Cosima sighed heavily and stood back up. "Delphine, you're creating false hope for yourself…"

"No, I'm not! You know Rachel is always thinking of herself first. There's no way she would have destroyed all of the stems cells if she knew they could save herself in the future."

Cosima shook her head, her dreads falling into her face. "Even if there were more, how the hell would you get to them? DYAD would never let any of us through their door."

"Well… They don't have to know they are letting us through…"

"No." Cosima immediately said. "No, sorry. Not happening. None of you are risking that. They would probably just grab Sarah for more testing or do something worse to you, Delphine. You aren't going."

"Cosima…" Delphine began.

"Sarah!" Cosima interrupted, making her way to the door. "Sarah, we don't need Cal anymore. The idea won't work."

"Um, it's too late," Sarah said, shutting the door behind her. "Cal already did it. It looks like Delphine is right. Some of Kira's stem cells were stashed in Leekie's office after he died."

Delphine immediately stood up. "I knew it! Okay, I'm going over there now."

"You're not going alone," Sarah said, grabbing her jacket.

"Are you serious?" Cosima yelled, clearly getting frustrated. "I'm not letting either of you go! It's a suicide mission!"

"It's a suicide mission to sit here and not do anything!" Delphine argued back. "We can't just sit around!"

"I don't care," Cosima said with a straight face. She breathed out sharply. "You're not going." Cosima grabbed the car keys sitting on the counter before storming out of the apartment.

"Cosima!" Sarah yelled. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she muttered to herself.

Delphine ran her hands through her hair slowly. "Okay, I'll go convince her."

"Since when has _anyone_ been able to convince Cosima of _anything_?" Sarah asked.

"I have some ideas…" Delphine said with a smirk. She threw on her jacket and followed Cosima outside.


End file.
